Passionate Faith

One of my favorite Old Testament stories of faith is the story of Elijah being taken to Heaven.  Elijah kept trying to get Elisha to remain behind, but Elisha was determined to stay with him.  As they were walking along, they came to the Jordan River, and Elijah took his mantle (cloak) and struck the water.  When he did, it divided and they walked across on dry ground.  Elijah asked Elisha what he could give him before he was taken.  Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit.  Elijah told him that if he saw him when he was taken, then it would be so.  Then the chariots of fire came, and Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind.  All that was left behind was his mantle, and, of course, Elisha.  So, Elisha starts walking back the way he had come.  When he got back to the Jordan River, he took Elijah’s mantle, now his, struck the water and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”  The water divided just as before and he crossed over on dry ground.

There are so many things in this story, but what I find most fascinating is the faith that Elisha has.  He asked for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah, and it was promised to him.  He didn’t go looking for some little test to see if it worked.  He walked right up to a large body of water, did the same thing he had witnessed Elijah do a little earlier, then call out to God.  He put his faith into action without having to “try it out” first.

It was more than just that.  If he wanted to do the same thing that Elijah had done, he simply would have hit the water with an expectation that it was going to part.  However, he was more passionate than that.  He verbalized his expectation.  With his question, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he was telling the Lord that he was expecting the miraculous.  There is a difference between being confident in your expectations, and just being demanding.  Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we should be confident:  “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

If we take a look at the examples of faith presented to us in the Bible, I think we would be able to classify them into one of two categories:

1.       Obedience – Abraham gives us a good example of this faith.  God told him to take his son and to sacrifice him.  Abraham took his son and prepared for the sacrifice, right up to the point of actually stabbing him to death.  When he didn’t hesitate, God intervened and spared Isaac’s life.

2.       Passion – This story of Elisha truly tells of passionate faith.

As I was thinking about this, I thought that in order to live out faith with the passion that it deserves, you have to be willing to “throw caution to the wind”.  After thinking about that, I wondered if that was really accurate.  There really is no such thing as a cautious faith.  By definition, faith is risky.  Author Bruce D. Main writes, “Faith is putting ourselves in situations where if God does not show up, we are in trouble.”

I think that sometimes God is just waiting for us to get passionate enough about our faith to take the bull by the horns and dare it to buck.  I think God is waiting for us to take our mantle, smack the river, and holler out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”  Am I suggesting that God only helps those who help themselves?  NO!  But I am saying that He is looking for faith.

If we start putting passion behind our faith and start coming to the Lord with confident expectation that He is going to answer, I wonder how different our lives will look.  I think this applies to everything we pray for.  Anything we pray for, we need to ask for with confident expectation.  Again, that is not the same as a demand.

What do you need a miracle for today?

• Healings (physical/emotional/mental/spiritual)
• Finances
• Relationships
• Etc.

In his newest album, Matthew West talks about being passionate in your faith, only he uses terminology that is a little cooler, and probably easier to rhyme:  All In.  To go “all in” means to be totally committed to something.  Really, that is what being passionate about our faith is, to be totally committed, to be ALL IN.

Starting now, I am committed to going All In.  Are you with me?  Click the “Like” button at the bottom to tell me you are ALL IN, and/or leave a reply.

Here is Matthew West’s lyric video for All In.  Enjoy: